(no subject)

[pez]

Hmmm. My hair shouldn't have turned out this dark. This is now darker than my natural colour...

Random: I don't like having a tan. I like being a pasty bastard. Damn, what's the quickest way to get rid of a tan?

Attempt to salvage writing by adding kinkyness to provide distraction from the fail = failure. Woe. (Fic is now called "Viking Cheese" on Google Docs, Sarah.)

Work and internet are both very quiet today...

Comments

[solaas.livejournal.com]

*giggles* Yeah, I noticed when I was over there. The black umbrellas for "protection" against UV rays were particularly cute. And that white skin ideal is as old as the hills, isn't it? I read a bunch of Chinese fairy tales when I was a kid, and I seem to recall them going on about the wonderful beauty of the heroine's white skin. Whereas north Europeans would just as soon be spitted and roasted under the sun 24/7 all during summer. We all nuts! XD

[yuki-scorpio.livejournal.com]

I lol at westerners who go out of their ways to get a "healthy tan". What the heck is a "healthy" tan anyway? Looking browner to make themselves look like they live in a sunny country/can afford a foreign holiday and risk skin damage in the process... how is that healthy? It's just too bloody funny.

The "white" thing, afaik, is connected to being pale is a sign that you're not a manual labourer, which makes you more desirable. Besides, some Asians do have skin so yellow that they look like they've got jaundice, so they really want to get rid of the overly yellow hue. =/

[giving-ground.livejournal.com]

Well, sun exposure is genuinely a healthy thing in moderation as it's one of the only reliable ways to get vitamin D into your body. Some supplements can help with that otherwise but a lot of the ones we get in THIS country are crap anyway due to being processed in such a way that you don't get the benefits.

[yuki-scorpio.livejournal.com]

There is that. Though, if you go out and ask people lying in the park or using sunbed, I doubt any of them will tell you they're doing it for the vitamin.

And then there is the fake tan...

[giving-ground.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know, most people ARE just being stupid about it. And OMG the distressing orangeness. XDDDDD I'd never advocate sunbed, anyway. Just saying, there really is an argument the other way too, even if people don't realise. XD

[yuki-scorpio.livejournal.com]

The orangeness. Oh, so much fun. XD

Yeah, it's alright in moderation. Fake tans are pretty cool too. I mean, I change my hair colour, so what can I say about people who change their skin colour?

Sunbeds. Oh, sunbeds. Reminds me of this article. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6101740.stm

[solaas.livejournal.com]

Hee! Yeah, some people take it to extremes. *coughBarryManilowcough* I can't say I'm too fond of that perpetual, waxy tan studio look -- it's creepy. >>; I suspect a healthy tan is something you get from normal exposure to the outdoors, not necessarily full-on sunshine and definitely not the spit and roast method. XD

Yeah, that was the ideal here, too, back in the olden days. Especially for women. Only farmers and poor folks worked outdoors, so they would be the ones with the tans. The rich and privileged women had lily white skin, soft hands and frilly parasols. I suspect that particular ideal has been seen all over the world, more or less. And the jaundice look, yeah, that one I can understand. :-/

[yuki-scorpio.livejournal.com]

You should see the article I linked to in the comment above. It's from 2 year ago, but it's scary the lengths people go to and the way they think.

[solaas.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I just read it. Dear lord, people are nuts! At least the frilly, black anti-sun umbrellas of Japan aren't harmful, just cute. DX

And that woman on the first portrait photo, she was 34 when the article was written. I'm 33 now. I think she looks rather older than 34.... >_>